Working Nurses: Take Advantage of Uncommon LPN-BSN Degree from Indiana State University
| School Overview | |
|---|---|
| Serves: | US |
| Accredited by: | HLC |
| Enrollment: | Rolling |
| Financial Aid: | Yes |
| Scholarships: | Yes |
Don't Let Your Busy Schedule Hold Your Career Back
Licensed Practical Nurses have few opportunities to pursue their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in an online environment. But Indiana State University offers one of the most popular. LPNs practice nursing on a very limited level, and are often given patient responsibilities that provide the most basic medical support, such as bathing, feeding, and wound care. The BSN degree prepares LPNs for the NCLEX-RN exam (National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses). RN licensure is the more favored of the two-it allows nurses to assume more expansive patient care roles, a plus in an industry where nursing staff is already alarmingly short-handed.
Nurses must have their RN license to move laterally or upwardly in nursing. The BSN degree, of course, lays the foundation for all types of nursing specialization, as well as opens the door to graduate and post-graduate degrees.
Requirements
Working LPNs interested in this educational degree track must prove a valid LPN license within their state as well as a completed LPN nursing program. There are three "pre-nursing" course prerequisites that must be successfully completed prior to admission to the ISU program: Nursing and Mental Health, Transition from LPN to BSN, and Assessment of the Adult Patient. These serve to prepare beginning nurses for the rigors of the online program, as well as discourage those perhaps unprepared for the next level of professional nursing.
Curriculum
The coursework for the online LPN to BSN is equivalent to the on-campus program-full-time participation takes three years to graduation, while part-time may take up to four. The BSN degree work demands a significant number of clinical credit hours and distance learners may schedule clinicals at a facility within their region and with an approved preceptor.
Online curriculum includes up to 69 credit hours in liberal arts courses, such as psychology, history, a foreign language, and English composition, and 65 credit hours of granular nursing topics: clinical pharmacology, child and family nursing, at-risk families, nursing care of the adult patient in all stages of life, mental health nursing, research and nursing theory, and community health nursing. Students are encouraged throughout the program to integrate critical thinking skills and associate patient care with an array of holistic modalities. Basic level leadership and supervisory skills are introduced, as well.
The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Inc. accredits all of ISU's nursing programs.
Career Opportunity
Nursing students that begin the ISU online program as LPNs and successfully complete the BSN degree and earn their RN license have so many more career options available then they had previously. The program, though intensive and comprehensive, is a must-have for motivated and career savvy nurses. Armed with a BSN degree, nurses may choose from dozens of nursing specialties, such as Critical Care, OB-GYN, and Oncology, to name only a few commonly found in a hospital setting.
Intriguing nursing specialties available to baccalaureate nurses include hyperbaric nursing, Emergency Nursing, Flight Nursing, and advance degrees in Nursing Anesthesia and Midwifery. Beyond the BSN degree, the sky's the limit for professional nurses.
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